We’re Getting Married!

I’ve heard people say they’d like to end up with a close friend, someone they already knew they could trust. I for one never imagined it could be the case for me. Shane and I met in 2009 at Elizabethtown College where we became close friends. Looking back, Shane was always that go to guy for support. He once told me, “Christa, you need to find a good guy, you’re beautiful and smart.” That conversation stuck in my head as I just couldn’t seem to find “the one.” Fast forward to 2016, Shane moved back to NJ from Key West and was stationed in AC and I moved in with some girlfriends in Robbinsville, NJ. I invited a group of friends to come to our apartment for the weekend, Shane being one of them. Well, instead of a big party we got a huge snow storm bringing in over two feet of snow. Everyone cancelled their plans to come, except Shane and his two buddies Rob and Bill. I was particularly excited for Shane to come because I told my roommate Tara about him- “I have this really nice, cute friend you have to meet!” The boys showed up late barely making it in the snow. We had the best weekend ever and I was sad to see them go after we shoveled out their cars. Tara came in my room and I said, “What happened with you and Shane? You didn’t even exchange numbers!” And she said, “No Christa, you and Shane.” Shane started inviting me on ski trips several weekends and apparently asked his buddies if he should ask me out on a date, worried he’d ruin our friendship.Thankfully he mustered up the courage to help me pick out my own pair of skis and boots followed by a date at Bonefish Grill. That year was filled with some of the best times of my life, I was on cloud 9. I will never forget the heartache I would feel leaving Brigantine and waiting eagerly for the next time we’d see each other. Today, when I hear people say they’d like to end up with a close friend, while I still can’t believe it- I’m so grateful I’m one of the lucky few whom gets to spend forever with my best friend!

Shane proposed to Christa on the beach in Bay Head, NJ at sunset following the closing of their house in Point Pleasant, NJ. He gave Christa a hand written message in a bottle ending with "so there is only one question I have for you..." as he got down on one knee. It was a beautiful, sunny and surprisingly warm day in November the two of them will never forget!